In what one prominent congressman termed “turning a page,” the U.S. House of Representatives voted this week to establish a special committee aimed at countering the influence of communist China. And even in an era of divided government and party rancor, this initiative attracted overwhelming bipartisan support.

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In one of his first efforts as speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., sponsored the resolution to establish a Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. It authorizes a new focused panel to investigate and recommend policies dealing with economic, technological, and security concerns caused by the authoritarian regime in Beijing.

Urging support for the new committee, Speaker McCarthy expressed wariness about U.S. dependence on China and our nation’s trajectory losing ground in the high-stakes geopolitical competition with that giant. He emphasized that China’s military and economy are increasing in power at the cost of liberty around the world.

“We spent decades passing policies that welcomed China into the global system. In return, China has exported oppression, aggression, and anti-Americanism,” McCarthy lamented.

Another longtime champion for freedom, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., also remembered the years of failed China policies. He pointed to the delinking of human rights and trade by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and recalled emphasizing back then the dangers of permitting “profits to trump human rights.”

“For over three decades post–Tiananmen Square Massacre, Congress was deeply divided, not between Republican and Democrat, but among the majority here and in the Senate who favored unfettered engagement and trade without serious human-rights conditionality,” said Smith.

He criticized leaders for being naive as they operated under the assumption that welcoming China with open arms would turn the regime to democracy. And he blasted corporate leaders for continuing to stand by Beijing during last year’s Olympics despite terrors being inflicted on Uyghurs in China.

“[They] wouldn’t utter a word,” he said.

But now Smith believes the launch of this committee is “turning a page” on the approach to China.

McCarthy said the idea came to him while visiting Normandy to honor the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

“As you walk those hallowed grounds, you notice crosses and Stars of David on many of these young American men. It made me wonder what could be done for that day to never take place,” the speaker said.

McCarthy decided the answer was a panel that could enable leaders to look past party lines and speak with one voice. Highlighting concerns with intellectual property, supply chains dependent on China, Chinese propaganda at work in schools and in Washington, and even efforts by the regime to buy up U.S. farmland, he encouraged legislators to work together toward countermeasures and to find ways forward.

“We want the very best ideas, and it doesn’t matter where they come from. At the end of the day, we won’t need a minority and majority report. We’ll just need one philosophy, with one principle, and America will be stronger for the future to come,” he said.

While it is notable that 65 Democrats voted against establishing the new select committee, most joined all Republicans present in approving it. Even as he hedged his cooperation with warnings against xenophobia and anti-Asian rhetoric, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “House Democrats will work in a serious, sober, and strategic manner to evaluate our relationship with the Chinese government and to address the rise of authoritarianism globally.”

McCarthy tapped Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., a U.S. Marine with significant experience on national security and supply-chain management, to chair the new panel’s work. Gallagher penned an article with McCarthy last month calling the U.S. relationship with China a “new Cold War” in which “Beijing has flouted international norms while exporting totalitarianism, aggression, and ideological control.”

Gallagher, too, welcomed work with Democrats on the committee.

“Here’s the good news: when the threat is dire, Americans have a proud history of coming together,” he wrote in December. “There is bipartisan consensus that the era of trusting communist China is over.”

As U.S.-China tensions rise, will you pray for courage and wisdom for our national leaders to contend with an increasingly emboldened regime. And in the midst of America’s confrontation with Beijing, please pray for the people of China — particularly our brothers and sisters in Christ — who know the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party firsthand.

How are you praying against China and the CCP? Share your prayers and scriptures below.

Aaron Mercer is a contributing writer with two decades of experience in the Washington, D.C., public-policy arena. Photo Credit: Yan Ke on Unsplash.